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Story by: Jack Foley
DOCUMENTARIES and films about war and world politics seemed to
dominate the prizes at this year's Sundance Film Festival (2005).
One such film, Why We Fight, a documentary which studied the
United States at war over the past 50 years, picked up the grand
jury prize for documentaries.
While The Liberace of Baghdad, from British director, Sean McAllister,
won a special prize in the world documentary category, for its
compelling insight into a pianist in war-torn Iraq.
Another winner was Angolan film, The Hero, which triumphed in
the new world cinema drama category.
It tells the story of a veteran of the country's civil war who
returns home to face a new battle of survival and was a joint
production between Angola, France and Portugal.
In the new world cinema documentary category, meanwhile, Dutch
film, Shape of the Moon, which focused on an extended family in
Indonesia, won the top prize, beating off competition from 12
further films which explored countries and people under siege.
Of these, Finnish film, The Three Rooms of Melancholia, looked
at the war in Chechnya, while Shake Hands With The Devil: The
Journey of Romeo Dallaire told the story of a UN mission to Rwanda
during the 1994 genocide.
Yet another prize winner was the French-Israeli film, Wall, which
examined Israel's controversial security wall separating it from
the Palestinian territories. It scooped the world cinema special
jury prize for documentaries.
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Of the other notable winners at the
2005 festival, Forty Shades of Blue picked up one of the most
sought-after prizes - in the main drama category.
The film tells the story of a forbidden tug-of-love between a
father, his Russian immigrant girlfriend and his son.
While the Audience Award went to rap drama, Hustle
and Flow, which tells of a pimp suffering a mid-life crisis
in a US southern city.
It also picked up the Sundance trophy for cinematography, for
Amelia Vincent, and has been acquired by Paramount Pictures and
MTV Films for $9 million (4.8 million pounds).
This year's Sundance Film Festival may have been dominated by
the themes of war and world politics, but there were plenty of
notable independent features that attracted the usual bidding
wars.
Of the highlights, Australian Outback thriller, Wolf
Creek, emerged with many plaudits, despite being shockingly
violent, while some of Hollywood's leading celebrities cropped
up in notable independent features.
Pierce Brosnan and Kevin Costner both made their mark in smaller
films, as did Keanu Reeves, in The
Thumbsucker, and Britain's own Jamie Bell, in two films -
The Chumbscrubber and Dear
Wendy.
In previous years, the festival - which is world-renowned for
being the leading showcase for independent film - has been responsible
for debuting some of the biggest films of recent years, including
Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir
Dogs, horror flick, The Blair Witch Project and Brit-hit,
The Full Monty.
Last year's event also delivered some of the best smaller films
of last year, including Garden
State, Super-Size Me,
Open Water and Napoleon
Dynamite.
The festival takes place in Park City, east of Salt Lake City,
and was founded by actor, Robert Redford, in 1981.
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